Author Archives: Joel D. Hirst

About Joel D. Hirst

Joel D. Hirst is a novelist and a playwright. His most recently released work is "Dreams of the Defeated: A Play in Two Acts" about a political prisoner in a dystopian regime. His novels include "I, Charles, From the Camps" about the life of a young man in the African camps and "Lords of Misrule" about the making and unmaking of a jihadist in the Sahara. "The Lieutenant of San Porfirio" and its sequel "The Burning of San Porfirio" are about the rise and fall of socialist Venezuela (with magic).

Afghanistan’s Republic Within the Republic

Posted on August 12, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Republics fail, and then they fall. To be sure, sometimes they just fail and then stay on life support. And then, by the time they have fallen nobody remembers that they had been a republic in the first place. Most … Continue reading →

Posted in International Affairs, Liberty | Tagged | 2 Comments

On Prophets and MISRULE

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I have been feeling these days more often like my namesake, that grand Hebrew prophet of old seated atop a mountain decrying the wickedness around and imploring people to seek God. They never do, seek God. Wickedness is way too … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

A Letter from Stalin

Posted on August 7, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Some people do only one thing, and that if they are lucky. Given the cacophony of life and the myriad people vying for meaning and significance against each other – 8,000,000,000 souls – how to stand out and be counted … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged | 2 Comments

The (Re) Making of the World

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Aleksandr Dugin, Russian philosopher and proponent of the idea of ‘Eurasianism’ has often highlighted the difference of what he considers ‘land based powers’ and ‘sea based powers’. In Dugin’s mind, the new war between Russia and the West is really … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged | 2 Comments

A Novel about Haiti

Posted on July 23, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Canape-Vert was written eighty years ago by two up-and-coming Haitian writers and chosen for a special prize by – among others – John Dos Passos. It is a novel about old Haiti written by Haitians; about the island peasantry and … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Leave a comment

We Need a ‘Solutions Rebellion’

Posted on July 23, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Have you noticed that our massive government is no longer able to solve the problems of the real world that affect us? Whatever you believe is the greatest problem – environmental degradation, inflation, crime, health care, world peace – pick … Continue reading →

Posted in America | Tagged | 4 Comments

On Dune

Posted on July 19, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Achieving the level of creativity and having the courage to invent something completely new is hard. Usually we regurgitate things we have seen and most stories are the rewriting of other people’s stories. Most fantasy is an attempt to rewrite … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Great Gorky

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Do Russians love to suffer, or do they simply find ways to cope with the difficulties that tribe and geography have subjected them to? One cannot but entertain the idea that Russians, perhaps unwillingly but certainly sometimes enthusiastically, tend to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Communist Writers and Utopia

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I don’t know what it is about books about writers, but I find them fascinating. My favorite so far is perhaps Vasily Grossman and his book about the Soviet writers workshop built on Lake Sevan in Armenia. At about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged | Leave a comment

A Work of Tremendous Evil

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

This book has been called the most dangerous book ever written. Julius Evola was said to have inspired Mussolini, whose spiritual power he feared. It inspired Goering and Goebbels. More recently, it is often on the tongue of Aleksandr Dugan, … Continue reading →

Posted in International Affairs | Tagged | Leave a comment